The rise of sports betting in Australia | Shaun Micallef's Going For Broke

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]I want to experience the fastest growing form of gambling in Australia.

[00:00:05]Sports betting. Uh hi fellas. Hey how you doing? I'm Shawn. Nice to meet you.

[00:00:09]I'm Scott. Scott, nice to meet you.

[00:00:11]How's it going Luke? Luke. Brothers Scott and Luke Casson and their friends have grown up together. When they're not playing sport, they still like to meet up and bet on other people playing sport. Is it Is this a regular thing or is it just the finals that you bet on?

[00:00:24]Nah, every week.

[00:00:25]>> Every week? Okay.

[00:00:26]>> [laughter] >> How much are you risking every week? We all just got $100 each.

[00:00:31]>> $100 each. Would that be about average?

[00:00:33]Would that be about what each week is?

[00:00:34]Probably a bit more. It's a little bit more. Well, when we think of it, probably 20 bucks each a head and we all just take turns betting with that. Yeah.

[00:00:41]Has it Has anyone lost too much? Anyone regretted it the next day? Oh yeah, we've all done that.

[00:00:45]>> [laughter] >> All right, well just to be sociable uh I'll put a I'll put a hundred in there.

[00:00:54]Then I'm part of the syndicate, all right?

[00:00:57]>> [laughter] >> Oh, there'll be questions asked in Senate estimates. Gambling with taxpayers' money?

[00:01:02]>> [music] >> Still, it's all in the name of research.

[00:01:07]Back in the 1900s, betting was only legal at the racetrack.

[00:01:11]But a few enterprising folks soon found a workaround.

[00:01:15]The starting price bookies.

[00:01:20]Suddenly, people could gamble anywhere and at better prices because the SP bookies didn't pay tax.

[00:01:27]Dodging police was half their job, so [music] they posted lookouts known as cockatoos.

[00:01:32]Brought to vivid life in this dramatic reenactment.

[00:01:37]The cockatoo warns the bar sometimes by loudly squawking and beating his wings, but more usually in a discreet manner by calling out an unusual order.

[00:01:50]By the 1950s, SP bookies were making nearly $300 million a year.

[00:01:57]The government had an epiphany.

[00:02:00]Betting premises like these [music] will be converted to TAB agencies, and they'll be as exciting to enter as a Commonwealth employment agency.

[00:02:09]TABs were state-owned betting shops set up to kill off the black market.

[00:02:13]And of course, take their share.

[00:02:15]The state Totalizator Agency Boards now collect hundreds of millions of dollars in failed hopes every year.

[00:02:23]The states liked the [music] taste of gambling >> money.

[00:02:25]Come the '90s, they were hungry for more.

[00:02:28]The Northern Territory spotted an opportunity.

[00:02:32]They legalized sports betting and started licensing bookmakers at rock-bottom of the harbor tax rates.

[00:02:38]Sports lovers around Australia will, for the first time, be able to bet legally on practically any sport.

[00:02:44]More markets meant more betting action.

[00:02:47]$20 on North Sydney to beat Brisbane at 9:00 to 4:00. But businesses could only grow as fast as someone could answer the phone.

[00:02:53]>> Okay, thanks, Matthew.

[00:02:56]Then, the internet arrived.

[00:02:57]>> In just 2 weeks, it's had a global impact.

[00:03:01]Suddenly, the territory bookmakers were raking it in 24/7 from punters around the world.

[00:03:06]Unbelievable. Uh we knew it'd be pretty popular, but we really haven't been able to keep up with the response. Global betting giants rushed in smelling big money.

[00:03:15]And today, more than 40 bookmakers call the top end home.

[00:03:20]So, what started out as an attempt to tidy up illegal gambling ended up [music] pumping growth hormones into it.

[00:03:28]Last year, the top end turned over $42 billion in sports betting.

[00:03:33]And they only paid the Northern Territory government $19 million in tax.

[00:03:38]>> [music] >> And what did the rest of Australia get?

[00:03:41]A sports betting app in every other pocket.

[00:03:45]We're betting on an NRL game between Brisbane and Penrith.

[00:03:49]Most of the group [music] appear to support Brisbane, except one. And I admire his refusal to buckle under pressure. What about those side bets, the bets within the game? Uh few first try scorer bets. So, what's that what's that? That's the first person to score a try. Oh, okay.

[00:04:04]>> Yeah, yeah. So, we'll put a few of them on. Okay, I want to see how this works.

[00:04:07]>> Oh, thank you.

[00:04:08]>> Cheers. That's okay.

[00:04:10]Through here?

[00:04:12]All right. $100?

[00:04:15]My god, that seems like such a lot of money. Fixed on sport? Yeah. My first bet since 1984.

[00:04:21]Uh the year, not the book by George Orwell.

[00:04:24]First try scorer. Right. And now we pick our player and put the money on.

[00:04:27]>> I'm not sure. No, who who do you recommend? First person.

[00:04:30]Yeah? Thomas, this man. He's a a good player? Great player. Okay, good. All right.

[00:04:39]I was very worried I'd have to spend the afternoon watching an entire football match.

[00:04:44]You want to put another horse bet on?

[00:04:46]Yeah, I would. Amazingly, I'm interested in this, but yeah, let's go and have a look at the the horses.

[00:04:51]But as it turns out, that's not the case, as there are other things to bet on. Horse racing, for example. Dubbo is a jump race. Is the light mare one? Is that right, do you? Yeah.

[00:05:01]Let's go with Deep Rouge, number three.

[00:05:03]Number three. All right, that's us.

[00:05:05]So, if we've got 50 on the nose.

[00:05:07]So, if he wins by 51 bucks, 2,500. All right, that's reasonable. So, we we we throw that in the cart, but it's just here. Is that racing now? We're on now.

[00:05:16]Oh, okay. We should watch it then. Yeah.

[00:05:18]Middle screen. Middle screen. Just as our race starts in Dubbo, >> [cheering] >> the first try is scored in Sydney. And that one is out. The paddles go up. We got one. Oh, we got that one. Our first try scorer. That's a good thing. By a player we put money on. That's lucky, because the horse in Dubbo was a stinker.

[00:05:34]>> But here, here no, no good. No good.

[00:05:36]>> All right, well I Get rid of that. Get rid of that. Get rid of him, mate. Over the shoulder. Yeah, yeah. Over the shoulder. All right. No good.

[00:05:42]He's He's found [music] the walk out.

[00:05:44]Straight back.

[00:05:45]>> I still feel bad about it.

[00:05:46]Pick it up.

[00:05:48]Put it out here, we're winners. Out here, we're winners.

[00:05:51]>> [cheering] >> And what's that one? That's the other That's the other horse? That's the Tigers going to win the NRL. A thousand dollars again.

[00:06:02]>> [laughter] >> A thousand A thousand dollars. I won a thousand dollars. And I guess I'm part of this I'm part of this syndicate. We won a thousand dollars. All right.

[00:06:09]The two big football codes, AFL and NRL, account for more than half of all sports betting in Australia.

[00:06:17]Research shows men often believe that because they know about sport, they have some control over the outcome.

[00:06:25]>> [laughter] >> Betting in groups also normalizes gambling.

[00:06:29]It's a bit like drinking.

[00:06:31]Doing it with mates is seen as social and fun.

[00:06:35]Yet one in 10 sports bettors experience gambling harm.

[00:06:39]And young men are more at risk than your average punter.

[00:06:42]>> [cheering]